This morning a report was published by a think tank that claimed regeneration of northern cities such as Liverpool and Sunderland is failling and that those wanting to live in relative prosperity must move south for such dreams to become a reality.
What do you think? Are poverty, unemployment and low wages more prominent up north? Maybe you live there and can shed some light on these issues. This is another angle of the debate over poverty. Evidence has long claimed that life expectancy and living standards are significantly higher in London and the south than in the north, in places such as Middlesbrough and Hull.
One of the aspects of this report not covered by the media is that the author, Dr Oliver Hartwich of Policy Exchange, a right wing ‘think tank’, called for local authorities to be given complete control over regeneration policy as a way to find more imaginative solutions. Too often regeneration has simply been a way for business to find cheap locations and garner enormous tax breaks at the expense of local communities own needs and wishes. Is this another example of the media misrepresentation that seems so prevalent in issues around poverty. Why are people not given the opportunity to influence regeneration through more democratic means?